Embracing opportunities

Over the last 10 years, the CSGKC has been injecting vitality into emerging industries for high-quality development.

The annual industrial output value of the bioscience sector has surged since 2012. The number of innovative pharmaceutical projects launched by leading enterprises including BeiGene and InnoCare has exceeded 40.

The CSGKC will be one of the largest biomedicine production hubs in Asia. Annual production capacity of macromolecular drug concentration is to reach 660,000 liters in the near future when the 40-odd projects come on stream.

The integrated circuits industry also made technological breakthroughs. More than 80 enterprises along the IC industrial chain, including CanSemi and Shennan Circuits, have settled in the CSGKC, and are expected to generate more than 300 billion yuan in sales revenue by 2035.

CanSemi's project, which only took 18 months to achieve mass production, is the only one of its kind which could produce 12-inch chips in Guangdong.

Over the last 10 years, the knowledge city has been building innovation chains to support its development of industrial chains. Vast leading research institutes and national and provincial-level platforms have been introduced to the region.

Young people exchange ideas in a cafe within Ascendas OneHub GKC. CHINA DAILY

It houses an aircraft tire dynamics center and the third-generation semiconductor innovation center; established the biological environment scientific center for the Bay Area; the China-Singapore International Joint Research Institute; and made inroads into silicon carbide chip development.

A total of 21 research and development platforms and 60 key labs are working on core technologies of frontier industries such as information technology and new materials.

"By combining talent, the most valuable resources; and innovation, the most powerful engine for development, the CSGKC presents a clear path to knowledge-driven high-quality development," said Wang Tinghui, president of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences.

The premium R&D environment has been attracting an increasing number of high-caliber professionals to the knowledge city, which has secured more than 100 scientists for its strategic development as well as another 1,260 high-caliber talent. Meanwhile, more than 5,000 candidates are studying and doing research there for their master's or PhD degree. The number of postdoctoral working stations accounts for nearly one-third of the total in Guangzhou.

"The CSGKC has become a model in demonstrating development in Guangzhou over the last 10 years," said Loh Tuck Keat, consul-general of Singapore in Guangzhou, adding the development of the CSGKC remains stable despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the 15-year development plan for the CSGKC approved by the State Council in 2020, the CSGKC will become a hub of new knowledge; a gathering place of global talent; a demonstration zone of opening-up and cooperation; and a driver for the high-quality development in the Bay Area.